An Indigenous Exchange

Aashukan Exchange 2017

Niskamoon Corporation in collaboration with the Indigenous Peoples Section of the International Association for Impact Assessment, invited Indigenous participants from around the world to participate in Aashukan, an exchange hosted by the Crees of Northern Quebec, Canada in their ancestral homelands of Eeyou Istchee in the Cree community of Waskaganish. Aashukan means “bridge” in eastern Cree. The goal of the event was to create a new conversation that reconciles development and the protection of Indigenous culture and lands. It built bridges between these two imperatives for the benefit of all. Download the Aashukan Program 2017 here.

A main outcome was the Aashukan Declaration – a document that outlines the principles, from an Indigenous perspective, for how Impact Assessment should be carried out on traditional lands.